As one of the most widely read German authors of the nineteenth century Gustav Freytag 18161895 continues to be associated with the middle class and the progress it enjoyed. Yet while his bestselling novel Soll und Haben 1855 and its lesserknown successor Die verlorene Handschrift 1864 owed their vast commercial success largely to their buoyant message of bourgeois advancement they simultaneously devote significant attention to elements of traditional German society. In exploring Freytags dual roles as both a novelist of contemporary middleclass life and a cultural historian this book uncovers the authors divergent and ostensibly conflicting desire both to embrace progress and commemorate the past. Investigating his literary engagement with three central elements of Germanys historical identity the pervasiveness of folk beliefs a strong identification with rural life and the continued presence of the aristocracy this study shows how Freytag attempts to locate these constituents of preindustrial Germany in a modern industrial nation and in doing so contributes to a historically anchored national identity in which material and political progress coexist with a rich heritage and ancient traditions.